nca | nichido contemporary art

nca | nichido contemporary art is pleased to present the exhibition “Identity XIV curated by Mizuki Endo – Horizon Effect –".
Addressing the theme of identity from a new angle and under a different curatorial guidance each time, this year’s edition welcomes Mizuki Endo, artistic director of the Vincom Center for Contemporary Art (VCCA) in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Venue: nca | nichido contemporary art
Exhibition schedule: June 29th (Fri.) ~ August 4th (Sat.)
Opening hours: Tue. ~ Sat. 11:00 – 19:00 (Closed on Sunday, Monday and National holidays)
Opening reception: June 29th (Fri.) 18:00 – 20:00
*Opening talk (by Mizuki Endo): June 29th (Fri.) 19:00 ～ the talk will last around 30 minutes.

Participating artists: HARUNOKADO (Yurika Uchida, Yukiko Oyama, Shohei Takeshita, Yuki Muramatsu, Yukiko Yamasaki)
Nobushige Kusamitsu, Vik Muniz, Tomonari Nakayashiki, Pablo Picasso
Curator: Mizuki Endo (Japan Series Game 4)
Video credits: Ikuo Gonoi, Sachiko Iwase, Mika Kuraya, Tatsuo Majima, Sakiko Ono, Ryuta Osawa, Masashi Shiobara, Miwa Taguchi
Video production: Masaya Aoyama
In collaboration with: Saika Elementary School (Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture)

*The video “Horizon Effect: setting up the exhibition” will be available on YouTube on occasion of the exhibition opening. Please have a look together with the exhibition. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC08iMn5VlP2o9ro9aoyI4rg)

This exhibition solely focuses on two-dimensional artworks.
Kusamitsu, Picasso, Muniz, these are artists that have been playing a major role within the history of galerie nichido and nca | nichido contemporary art, and their works should light up to some extent Japan’s art scene.
I look at these pieces as something that ought to be shown, thus they have been prepared beforehand.
Among these, exceptional painters such as the HARUNOKAIDO group, and Tomonari Nakayashiki bring along their own work.

The dance begins. The set-up is decided. Works are hung to the walls. In each simple step of such process everything is already set in motion: history, politics, aesthetics, ideology, criticism, introspection, murmurs, compassion, distrust, ambition, reality.

Nevertheless, even within such whirlpool, there is a line, calm and motionless. Let’s make it the baseline. We don’t know where it is heading to. That’s the very horizontal line, and it always appears together with little effort on our side.

Mizuki Endo
Completed the doctoral program in Comparative Social and Cultural Studies at Kyushu University without obtaining the doctoral degree (2004); involved in the foundation of art spaces such as “art space tetra” (Fukuoka/2004), “Future Prospects Art Space” (Manila/2005), “Yugishitsu” (Kobe/2007); relocated between the Philippines and Indonesia for the Nippon Foundation’s API Fellowship (2004~2005); awarded the “Lorenzo Bonaldi Art Prize” for young curators (2005); networking curator of the Singapore Biennale 2006 (2006); relocated in the US for the Asian Cultural Council’s Fellowship (2007); director of ARCUS Project (2007~2010); collaborative curator of Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (2009); curator of CREAM: international festival for arts and media Yokohama (2009); guest curator of “Perfect Moment” - solo show of Yutaka Sone (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery/ 2011); executive director of Higashiyama Artists Placement Service -HAPS- (2011~); residence program director of Kunisaki Art Project (Oita, Japan, 2014); currently working as artistic director at 2017 Vincom Center for Contemporary Art, Hanoi, Vietnam (2017~).